The goal of must businesses is to make money. There aren’t many businesses that can lose on each sale and make it up in volume. In fact, I don’t know of any. But I digress….
So let’s take Sam and Edna, two successful individuals who love horses. They decide to start raising horses. They remember their accountant telling them that if they had a business that loses money they can take the loss and offset some of their income. That’s true. They don’t remember their accountant telling them that the business does need to be structured to make money eventually.
Hobby losses are not allowed. Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the income from a hobby is taxable, but the expenses (up to the amount of income) are also not deductible! The IRS has a webpage noting the major factors used in determining whether or not your business is really a business or is a hobby:
To help simplify things, the IRS has established factors taxpayers must consider when determining whether their activity is a business or hobby.
- The taxpayer carries out activity in a businesslike manner and maintains complete and accurate books and records.
- The taxpayer puts time and effort into the activity to show they intend to make it profitable.
- The taxpayer depends on income from the activity for their livelihood.
- The taxpayer has personal motives for carrying out the activity such as general enjoyment or relaxation.
- The taxpayer has enough income from other sources to fund the activity
- Losses are due to circumstances beyond the taxpayer’s control or are normal for the startup phase of their type of business.
- There is a change to methods of operation to improve profitability.
- Taxpayer and their advisor have the knowledge needed to carry out the activity as a successful business.
- The taxpayer was successful in making a profit in similar activities in the past.
- Activity makes a profit in some years and how much profit it makes.
- The taxpayer can expect to make a future profit from the appreciation of the assets used in the activity.
All factors, facts, and circumstances with respect to the activity must be considered. No one factor is more important than another.
If your business loses money year-after-year, and you’re not making any efforts to change it, and you get a lot of personal enjoyment out of the business, beware! Your “business” might be a hobby. Yes, circumstances can cause any business to fail (and the IRS knows this). But when your business is losing money every year and you make no effort to change your business, at least on the surface you’re looking like a hobby. The eternal hobby loss is a good way to head to an IRS audit.